Plants starting to pop up while the fog settles on the lake

WATKINS GLEN, New York, USA - After spending several hours this morning moving flower and vegetable pots around - plus thinking, Why am I doing this when I could be out kayaking? - I was rewarded with the first sprout of the season making its debut out on the big-ass deck in front of the house.

Exactly what kind of plant it is, I can't say. The names I wrote on the outside of the plantable, biodegradable starter pots washed off in the rain.

Plant Zero

It is a tomato plant, an egg plant or cilantro. (No it can't be a weed, I won't allow it...)

Whatever it is, it is now officially named Plant Zero, with all other seedlings to follow in its pioneering path.

That anything sprouted - given that the plants have been in freezing weather on and off for weeks - is just amazing.

Still, if this seed made it, there is hope for the other 100 or so brothers, sisters and cousins planted hither and yon in these containers, regular flower pots, tubs, and two Earthboxes.

Last year the one small Earthbox provided us with as much bountry and a two foot by 12 garden patch.

That's why I bought a second one which will be for tomatoes and eggplants.

As I discovered Plant Zero, I saw that the warm temps today (83 degrees and rising) were clashing with the cold water of Seneca Lake to form a really neat bank of rolling fog. Even though the air is very clear, I can't see the east side of the lake.

When I was downtown an hour ago, I thought one of the salt plants was putting out steam.

Wrong! Just Mother Nature letting off a little steam of her own.

Fog on the south end of Seneca Lake